New Registration System Brings School Age Childcare into Affordable Childcare Scheme

School age childcare services to be registered for first time with Tusla

Minister Zappone signs the Childcare Support Act 2018 (Commencement) Order 2018 and the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018, enabling school age childcare services to register and participate in new Affordable Childcare Scheme

The families of over 17,750 school age children benefited from government childcare subsidies last year. Thousands more could benefit in 2019 through the Affordable Childcare Scheme

Regulations represent an important first step in the full regulation and inspection of school age childcare services

Another major milestone to quality affordable, accessible childcare

Thursday 27th December 2018

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, TD, has today signed Regulations which will provide, for the first time in Ireland, for the registration of school age childcare services.

Minister Zappone has signed the Childcare Support Act (Commencement) Order 2018, bringing into force key amendments to the Child Care Act 1991 in relation to the definition of school-age service.

This paves the way for Regulations- which the Minister also signed- on the mandatory registration of school-age services, procedures for registration and on-going requirements for continuing registration.

School age childcare services have not, to date, been subject to registration and, so, this is a significant step forward in ensuring quality school age childcare for thousands of working families.

Once registered, school age childcare services will be able to participate in the forthcoming Affordable Childcare Scheme launching in late 2019.

This means families availing of these services will be able to access the financial benefits provided by the scheme.

On signing the Regulations, Minister Zappone noted:

“We have been working tirelessly to deliver quality, accessible, affordable early learning and care and school age childcare in Ireland. Paramount to this is the ongoing development and improvement of quality provision for children. As such, I am delighted to establish a statutory registration system for school age childcare services; services that provide such a vitally important support to working parents throughout the country.

Parents can be assured that these new Regulations represent an important first step in paving the way for full regulation and inspection of school-age services in the future. They also ensure that parents will now have access to the Affordable Childcare Scheme when it launches next year. This progressive measure will, therefore, improve both the quality and affordability of school age childcare for Irish families over time.”

Only registered school age childcare services will be able to provide services under the Affordable Childcare Scheme. The regulations will come into effect on 18th February 2019 and services will be able to register with Tusla from that date. More detail on registration requirements are set out in the Frequently Asked Questions document which can be accessed at the following link, click here

A comprehensive and ‘plain English’ explanatory guide will also be published alongside the Regulations on the Department’s website.

Once the registration of school age services has been completed, more comprehensive regulations will be introduced in a move that mirrors the enhanced regulation and inspection of early learning and care settings over recent years.